Music Blog

Too-ra-loo-ra, Too-ra-loo-rye-ay

Nancy's Notes 🖊️🎶

This week Jim Adams has asked his readers
in his post, “An Annual Celebration”, to write about
a song that won the Brit Award for Best Song of the Year.
Written for Song Lyric Sunday, here is my choice.

The Brit Award

While researching the Brit Award for Best Song of the Year specifically and the Brit Awards in general, I kept hitting a frustrating and contradictory stumbling block. I found an online listing of all the songs that won the Brit Award for Best Song of the Year; then, while doing some cross-referencing for the song I chose to feature today, I read that it was not named Best Song of the Year but rather Best Single of the Year. I found this to be very confusing. One list said one thing and another list said something else!

I finally discovered the reason for the two different names: from 1977 through 2019, the category was known as the Brit Award for Best Single of the Year; it was renamed as the Best Song of the Year in 2020, returned to the original name of Best Single of the Year in 2021, then renamed once again to Best Song of the Year in 2022. For all intents and purposes (and definitely as far as this theme is concerned), the Brit Award for Best Single of the Year and Brit Award for Best Song of the Year are the same thing. Clear? Good! 

The Brit Awards were established in 1977 by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). The nominees and winners of these annual awards are determined by a voting academy with more than a thousand members including record label executives, publishers, managers, agents, members of the media, and previous winners and nominees. The first awards were given in celebration of 100 years since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and the Silver Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. In 1982, the award presentation became an annual event.

My song today is “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners, winner of the Brit Award for Best Single of the Year for 1983 (before the name of the category was changed to Brit Award for Best Song of the Year).

Formed in Birmingham, England in 1978, Dexy’s Midnight Runners (now Dexys), pulled their name from the drug Dexedrine, which was used as a “pep pill” in the 1960s. The second half of the band’s name referred to the energy the Dexedrine gave as a stimulant enabling people to dance all night; they’re running (dancing) well past the dead of night. Remember the movie “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”

https://youtu.be/cKu1y9ZWPDs?si=XmRxykQEmcXbCGua

One of the biggest bands in the UK in the 1980s, the group mixed Celtic folk sounds and blue-eyed soul into its own brand of pop music. Led by the maverick singer-songwriter Kevin Rowland, the band altered its wardrobe with almost every album, evolving from a scruffy gypsy look to a slicked-back, Ivy League image. Rowland’s controlling style led to many changes in the group’s personnel and contributed eventually to the band’s unraveling in the mid-1980s. A 2003 reunification and comeback tour arrived on the heels of Let’s Make This Precious, a greatest-hits collection released that same year. Dexys is still recording, having been recently signed by the London-based music label 100% Records; last year the group released its sixth studio album, The Feminine Divine.

In 1982 Dexy’s Midnight Runners released Too-RyeAy, a successful second album that introduced a Celtic folk flavor to the band’s repertoire. The album’s first single, “The Celtic Soulbrothers,” met with a tepid response. It was the follow-up single, “Come On Eileen,” that really caused a sensation at home and abroad. The song sailed to #1 on both the British and American charts, and the group’s new wardrobe, favoring a ragtag gypsy look, pervaded the music-video scene for months to come.

“Come On Eileen” was Dexy’s Midnight Runners’ biggest hit. Frontman Kevin Rowland originally said the song was about a childhood sweetheart. However, he later revealed Eileen wasn’t an actual person; she was, instead, used to represent Rowland’s feelings of lust and repression during his Catholic upbringing.

The “gloriously gimmicky pop single” topped the UK charts in August 1982 and became the biggest-selling single of the year, hitting #1 in the UK and US eight months apart. It topped the Billboard Hot 100 in April 1983, sandwiched between Michael Jackson’s two monstrous chart toppers from Thriller – “Billie Jean” and “Beat It.” It was the group’s only hit stateside. The track is now more than 40 years old and it still gets regular airtime, with that chorus still managing to spark sing-alongs all these decades later.

This is “Come On Eileen” by Dexy’s Midnight Runners

LYRICS

Come on, Eileen
Come on, Eileen

Poor old Johnnie Ray
Sounded sad upon the radio
Moved a million hearts in mono
Our mothers cried
Sang along, who’d blame them?

You’ve grown (you’re grown up)
So grown (so grown up)
Now I must say more than ever
(Come on, Eileen)
Too-ra-loo-ra
Too-ra-loo-rye-ay
And we can sing just like our fathers

Come on, Eileen
Oh, I swear (what he means)
At this moment
You mean everything
You in that dress
My thoughts, I confess
Verge on dirty
Ah, come on, Eileen

Come on, Eileen

These people ’round here
Were beaten down, eyes sunk in smoke-dried face
They’re so resigned to what their fate is
But not us (no never)
But not us (not ever)
We are far too young and clever
(Remember)
Too-ra-loo-ra
Too-ra-loo-rye-ay
And you’ll hum this tune forever

Come on, Eileen
Oh, I swear (what he means)
Ah, come on, let’s
Take off everything
That pretty red dress
Eileen (tell him yes)
Ah, come on, let’s
Ah, come on, Eileen, please
That pretty red dress
Eileen (tell him yes)
Ah, come on, let’s
Ah, come on, Eileen, please

(Come on, Eileen, too-rye-ay)
(Come on, Eileen, too-rye-ay)
Now you’re full grown (too-ra)
And now you have shown (too-ra, ta-loo-ra)
Oh, Eileen
Said, come on, Eileen (come on, Eileen) (you’ve grown)
These things they are real and I know (ta-loo-rye-ay) (so grown)
How you feel (come on, Eileen, ta-loo-rye-ay)
Now I must say more than ever (too-ra, ta-loo-ra)
Things ’round here have changed
I said, too-ra-loo-ra (come on, Eileen, ta-loo-rye-ay)
Too-ra-loo-rye-ay (come on, Eileen, ta-loo-rye-ay)
(Too-ra, ta-loo-ra)

Come on, Eileen
Oh, I swear (what he means)
At this moment
You mean everything
You in that dress
My thoughts, I confess
Verge on dirty
Ah, come on, Eileen
Come on, Eileen
Oh, I swear (what he means)
At this moment
You mean everything
In that dress
Oh, my thoughts I confess
Well, they’re dirty
Come on, Eileen
Come on, Eileen
Whoa (what he means)
Whoa
Ah, come on, Eileen

Writer/s: James Paterson, Kevin Adams, Kevin Rowland
Publisher: Sony/ATV Music Publishing LLC
Lyrics licensed and provided by LyricFind

An Annual Celebration

Big thanks to Jim Adams for hosting another great Song Lyric Sunday this week. Be sure to follow the link and check out Jim’s site.

Thanks for stopping by. See you on the flip side. 😎

NAR©2024

All text, graphics and videos are copyright for Nancy (The Sicilian Storyteller), The Sicilian Storyteller, The Elephant’s Trunk and The Rhythm Section and is not for use by anyone without permission. NAR©2017-present.

33 thoughts on “Too-ra-loo-ra, Too-ra-loo-rye-ay”

    1. I’m so glad to hear that, Christine! I couldn’t agree more; I’ve been humming the tune on and off all day. And what really put a smile on my face was getting an e-Christmas card from a friend of mine in Australia by the name of Eileen. It was meant to be! 😊

      Thanks so much, Christine! 🩶🎶

      Liked by 1 person

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  5. It took me a little bit and I had to find out that the Brit single and song award were the same thing, too. I finally found a list that had some songs wanted to choose from. This one here is one I hear I’d say almost every day on the oldies radio stations. I like the way it is peppy and happy sounding, not that I knew what they were singing about. Now I read the lyrics, I do! Sometimes it’s more interesting to hear a song when you know more about it. 🙂

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  9. This was a great song when it first came out, but it got overplayed and now I find it to be slightly annoying. Rowland tried to insert energy and excitement into this song, but after listening to it all the time it became like the people on the dancefloor in the movie “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?“, where they leaned on each other to stand up and I just needed a rest from it.

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    1. I get what you’re saying, Jim, which is another reason why I referenced that same movie.
      It’s been a very long time since I last heard Come On Eileen; it was fun hearing it again and so I made my choice. Simple as that.
      For me, that’s what these prompts are all about … having fun and a pleasant exchange with my fellow bloggers. Once we start defending our song choices or beating each other up over the integrity of a song, it all becomes a bit too pedantic.

      This is proving to be an excellent and challenging theme, Jim. I’m looking forward to the next couple of weeks.

      Enjoy your Sunday, Jim. 🏈

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      1. I owe you an apology as I never criticize songs, because I realize that most people have different tastes in music and if everyone selected a Grateful Dead song each week, that would really suck. You should never have to defend your choices, and I won’t step out of line again. Thanks for reprimanding me for what I said about your choice. I love your writing and i want you to come back every week.

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        1. Oh my goodness, Jim. I’m the one to apologize now. I was making a heartfelt statement about our music choices in general; it was not meant as a reprimand to you. I had no problem with your comment and did not take anything you said personally. I’m sorry if it came across that way. That was not my intention. You make a very good point, something I have always believed in: we all have different tastes in music. That’s the beauty of it. There’s no right or wrong.

          I greatly appreciate you offering an apology, Jim, even if it was unnecessary. Not everyone would be so gracious.

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          1. Hosting any challenge comes with responsibilities and I host 3 different challenges every week and I try hard to be a good host. Even when I don’t like a song, I usually find a way to make a compliment on it and the poetry that I read, I often don’t understand it, but I realize that the person who wrote it tried hard and they are proud of what they wrote, and maybe it is my fault for not understanding it.

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            1. That’s a very kind and gracious attitude, Jim. I wouldn’t worry overmuch about not understanding poetry; plenty of it goes over my head, too …. and I’m the one writing it! 😂

              I appreciate how much time you put into your challenges; there’s a good amount of work involved and if you want to do a decent job, you need to be responsible. That’s one of the reasons I respect SLS; your site is always on time, presented very nicely with no technical issues and the themes are interesting and challenging. Thanks for all you do here on WP!

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  10. He was forever reinventing himself / the band, was Kevin Rowland. Much as I love this incarnation, I always preferred the earlier ‘Plan B’ / ‘Geno’ era sounds.

    ‘Come On Eileen’s a classic though – still a great party starter.

    😀

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  11. Sorry, but I’ve hated this one ever since I first heard it. As a lover of folk music this is everything I detest about pop groups jumping on the folk bandwagon. It pays no respect to musical traditions, and is a classic example of ‘fake folk.’ Yet it is proof that the British record buying public can’t be trusted with their pocket money!

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      1. True enough, and you’d be hard pressed to find anything remotely resembling a candidate amongst the various winners and nominees for this one!

        I think we’ll have to agree to differ on this: I’d have more fun pulling my own teeth 🤣

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